Brock Porter deal is official

The Texas Rangers have officially signed fourth round draft pick Brock Porter, the team announced today.

Porter, a righthanded prep pitcher who was generally rated a mid-first-round talent, but who slipped due to, among other things, signability issues, was previously reported to have agreed to a well, well above-slot $3.7M bonus. The Rangers were able to go that far above slot to sign Porter because Kumar Rocker, the team’s first round pick, agreed to a well below slot bonus, previously reported to be $5.2M.

Porter will presumably go to the Arizona Complex League, though he probably won’t have a heavy workload over these final couple of months of the minor league season. He would seem likely to start the 2023 season at low-A Down East, assuming the Rangers don’t use Porter as a part of a deal this offseason — the Rangers are expected to be aggressive buyers this offseason, and Porter is someone who would be an attractive potential trade chip this winter.